Love and Hope, Not Hopelessness: Remembering Katherine McCarron
September 29, 2006 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
I have posted often about Katherine McCarron—a beautiful, precious, and happy little girl. Katie died on May 13th; her mother, Karen McCarron, allegedly killed her. I have noted how much of the media coverage surrounding Katie’s killing focused on the “toll” of raising an autistic child and about how difficult, and devastating, it is to be the parent of an autistic child. (See this earlier post, Let’s Not Blame the Victim: A Call for Restraint and Responsibility.) Raising an autistic child can, it was suggested, lead a parent to conclude that one’s child would be better off dead than alive and autistic. (See this earlier post, Karen McCarron, Alison Tepper Singer, and misplaced compassion.)
It has been almost half a year since Katie McCarron died. She was three years old (her fourth birthday would have been on July 22nd); she was, in the words of her grandfather, Mike McCarron, “beautiful, precious, and happy” (see this earlier post, Beautiful, Precious and Happy: Katherine McCarron).
It was therefore disturbing to see Katie’s death referred to as an example of the “hopelessness” of being autistic in a press release from Raun Kaufman of the Son-Rise Program to announce a “10-city free public lecture tour across the UK and Ireland this September entitled: Breakthrough Strategies for Autism Spectrum Disorders.” Katie, as Mike McCarron has movingly conveyed, was a loving little girl who meant more than words can say to those who cared for her. Her death is a terrible fact but to use it to promote a treatment that (in the words of the press release) offers a “concrete blueprint to reach ‘unreachable” children’” and “to begin to cross the bridge from their world to ours” dishonors our remembrance of Katie, a little girl who is always missed and whose too-short life was one of love and hope.
Yeah well Raun is an idiot.
AND HE ISN’T CURED. I will shout it from the rooftops. THe man may be able to pass, but he’s as cured as I am.
A distasteful idiot living a pack of lies. This is really disgusting.
Reading the press release, I’d bet that the slant for that came from the person who wrote the press release – the “Tracy” in the contact number on the press release.
I will call the center on Monday to find out who wrote this. If the PR person generated the “hopeless” angle and the Katie reference him or herself or if this is part of Kaufman’s standard pitch.
Once I get more info, I will share it with as many people likely to be outraged as possible.
–Stephen
Very interested in finding out what you find out, Stephen—-
From what I’ve seen it’s standard Raun Kaufman fare. All the son-rise people, really. Your choices are hopelessness or spend a weekend and a small fortune learning how to follow your kid around and imitate him/her/xer. And you get the added bonus of being asked for donations frequently.
If I sound cynical, I am.
Sorry to say there is nothing to report yet. Tracy Baisden – the contact person on the press release – it out today. I decided to call back tomorrow rather than leave a voice mail.
Would describing their use of Katie McCarron as “exploitation of a tragedy” be too strong a term? Rhetorical question. I already know the answer I’ll get from most of the people who post here.
More later when I have more.
–Stephen
Brief follow-up for anyone reading this. I am guessing that they’ve heard at least one complaint about the use of Katie McCarron in the press release. I didn’t leave may name or organizational affiliation with the receptionist at the Autism Treatment Center, just that I wanted to ask Tracy Baisden about a press release.
Interestingly, the NDY site was visited by someone at the “option.org” domain today. That is the domain of the Option Institute. It looks like the Autism Treatment Center is an entity attached to the Option Institute (no surprise).
I’m guessing the only conceivable reason someone from the Option Institute would have accessed the NDY site *today* was as a result of doing a search on “Katie McCarron.”
Maybe they’re getting a sense now that this particular choice wasn’t a very good one.
–Stephen
I’ll say that this is a case of “exploitation of a tragedy” and for renumerative ends.
I apologize for my delay in talking to folks at the Autism Treatment Center of America. I needed to take two days off this week to take my apartment apart and put it back together again – throwing out some things and putting stuff back together in better order. I may have gained us 20% more floor space for my efforts.
I did call the the Center today and asked for Tracy Baisden, whose name is given as a contact on the press release. She is well aware of the reactions from different people, including Mike (I had a second visit from the Options Institute on the NDY site today, btw – before I called.).
The short of it is this. She said they will not use Katie again in their advertising. I did not get any assurances that they would steer away from the “murder” theme altogether. I also suggested that simple courtesy and decency would suggest that Mike McCarron get a response from them ASAP. Ms. Baisden said that would happen but was fuzzy on when.
Addendum – I hit pretty hard on using it as a marketing tactic and the exploitation angle. My suggestion is to keep up the heat along these lines.
–Stephen
Stephen, thanks for the advocacy and the update—will be keeping an eye out for future references—-